John Cullan AXTON b abt 1630 England? Ireland? was imported as a head right to VA colonies in 1648 by Lewis Burwell, a very wealthy landowner in Charles City County, VA. In early colonial VA, individuals imported as head rights had their passage paid for to the colonies, while the person paying the passage received 50 acres of land for each head right individual. Upon arriving in VA, John Axton probably became an indentured servant to Lewis Burwell for 5 to 7 years; after that point John could have purchased or owned land, but not before. It has been noted by several other researchers that John Axton married Mary Mansell/Mansfield, daughter of David Mansell/Mansfield who was in the House of Burgesses in VA colony, but that has proven to be ENTIRELY FALSE. Mary Mansell married 1st to Henry Blagrave I; in the 1660s, John Axton & a partner, Edward Cary, purchased 600 acres of land in Stafford Co VA from Henry Blagrave (land which was originally owned by David Mansell/Mansfield, and passed to his daughter Mary Mansell upon her marriage to Henry Blagrave) . After both Henry Blagrave's & Edward Cary's death, John Axton sought to legally claim this 600 acre parcel, and Mary Mansell Blagrave, who in widowhood remarried, to a Mr. Heard or Hoard, FOUGHT JOHN AXTON IN COURT for possession of the 600 acres. After John Axton's death sometime before 1687, John's daughter ANN AXTON and her 1st husband JOHN SMITH filed suit to reclaim the 600 acre parcel. They must have been successful, for it is noted in the register of Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co VA that the 600 acres of land were passed to Ann (Axton) (Smith) Whitecotton's son & heir, Mealey Whitecotton b aft 1688 (She married 2nd time to ISHAM WHITECOTTON around 1688??). Transcriptions of the depositions in the court case are available on Michelle Taunton's website "Decendents of Henry Blagrave I". The transcriptions are from the book "Deeds & Wills of Stafford Co VA 1683-96" p 406. Very interesting reading!

Hi Betty,My Axten information is from the 1800's in England. I believe I do not have a full set of siblings in the earlier 2 generations - Jeremiah Axten in Watford,Hertfordshire and Thomas Axten, but have reliable information on the descendants of Sydney Axten b. 1884 in Kent, England to present in Canada. I think the list of Jeremiah's children is incomplete, showing only Thomas, John and a much younger sister, Louisa, who died at 5 years of age.

Thomas had one brother, John Axten shown on the 1881 and 1891 census records, who named his first son, John.

Sydney is the only sibling known to have emigrated (early 1914). He corresponded with Gertrude, but his wife had a bad habit of cutting heads and bodies out of pictures if she came to dislike them and likely destroyed Gertrude's letters, but Mom has preserved as many photos and documents as possible.

Sydney Axten's name on the ship manifest is spelled incorrectly as Sidney Akten. Sydney could not have seen this document. If he had, he would have insisted on his name being spelled correctly as he was very particular about having his name spelled properly. Like his grandfather, Sydney was a capenter who had gained many other building skills. I suspect that he listed himself as a farmer for emigration purposes if farmers were in demand in Canada at the time. He landed in New Brunswick, but clearly went on to Toronto in time to have a short courtship and marry in 1914.

My 90 year old mother is the living second daughter of Sydney Axten m. Margaret Greer in 1914, both born in 1884 Margaret was born in Donegal, Ireland. Her parents, John Greer m. Jane Wilson and 11 of their 13 children emigrated to Canada in 1900/01. One child, James, had died and the eldest Agnes was married and unwilling to leave Ireland.My mother has a list of the siblings, some pictures and documents including a Will.

I would be interested to know if this family has turned up in your lineage and if we are linked. It is possible that missing siblings were ones who emigrated, disappearing from census records in the UK as Sydney did. He turns up in the 1891 census, but did not emigrate to Canada until 1914, so I wonder where he was for those missing years.

If I can share any information with you, I will be happy to do so.In another post, I read that Axton was a place name with Axten meaning 'from Axton', so the Axten spelling may have evolved from that.